Class notes and in memory
Class News
1950s
Anne J. Davis 52N 55N edited the Essentials of Teaching and Learning in Nursing Ethics (2006) and The Globalisation of Nursing (2008) and wrote Ethical Dilemmas and Nursing Practice (2009). Also in 2009, Davis spoke at the University of Oslo, gave the keynote address at an ethics conference in Japan, and was a visiting professor at Yezreel Valley College in Israel. She is an emeritus professor with the UCSF School of Nursing.
1960s
Anne L. Kelley 63N marked her 20th year with Emory Healthcare in 2009. She helps link patients with physicians as a nurse with Emory HealthConnection.
1970s
Jodi Carner-Higgins 79N of Manchester, NH, writes, “I am working as a psych NP, specializing in child and adolescent psychopharmacology. My daughter Megan completed her freshman year at Mount Holyoke College. At home, my husband Stephen and I are busy with our pets—Icelandic sheep, Pygora goats, Angora rabbits, dogs, and cats. Megan and I spin, weave, and knit. I would love to hear about more members of the SON Class of 1979!”
1980s
Mary Lambert 81MN completed a temporary assignment with the Health and Human Services (HHS) Region IV Office in Atlanta, working in various areas of public health. She then served as acting senior adviser to the Region IV regional health administrator. Lambert also entered the DNP program at Vanderbilt.
Karen H. Brown 89MN and her husband Mike moved to Spartanburg, SC, where she works at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.
1990s
Brenda Baker 94MN received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from NIH to support her doctoral nursing research at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Col. Ronald (Ron) Keen 96MN was appointed U.S. Army Forces Command chief nurse and chief of clinical operations at Ft. McPherson, GA. He previously served 15 months as chief nursing executive of the 115th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad. He writes, “I feel blessed to have served the Coalition Forces in helping the Iraqi people rebuild their nation and medical care systems.”
MARRIED: Colleen Browne 97MN/MPH and Charles Kilgore on Jan. 18, 2008. She is a PhD student at Florida International University School of Nursing. The couple lives in Orangeburg, SC.
Demetrice M. Askew 98N took part in an international exchange program in March 2009. She traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, to study methods to improve patient safety and decrease risk of falls. Askew works in the pulmonary-thoracic unit at Emory University Hospital.
BORN: Eleni Sarah to Kimberly Clapp Ludlum 96Ox 98N and her husband Nicholas on May 6, 2009. She joins her big brother, Stuart. The family lives in Oakton, VA.
MARRIED: Heather McRae 98N and Bradley Willems on Oct. 10, 2009, in Senoia, Ga. The couples lives in Sheboygan, WI.
2000s
Lauren Markowitz 03N received her MN in June 2008 from UCLA, majoring in the acute care nurse practitioner and clinical specialist program. Markowitz works in the ER at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
MARRIED: Iman Ahmed Omer 04N 06MN and Dineer Mohamed on May 23, 2009, in Toronto. They honeymooned in the Dominican Republic and now live in northern Virginia.
BORN: Maya Noelle to Kelly Moynes Sklare 04N 06MN and her husband Josh on Dec. 16, 2009. The family lives in Atlanta.
Audrey L. Roberts 03Ox 05MN became a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant in 2008. She established ALR Legal Nurse Consulting Inc. in McDonough, GA, to assist attorneys on medical cases.
Anjli Aurora Hinman 06N 08MN serves with the Initiative on the Future of Nursing in America, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Insitute of Medicine. Led by Donna Shalala, former secretary of Health and Human Services, and Linda Burnes Bolton, vice president for nursing at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the committee is developing a blueprint for expanded access to quality care through better use of nurses. Hinman is one of 14 academic, health, and business professionals who serve with the initiative.
BORN: Twin sons Elijah Clay and Nathan Case Turner to Tonya (Clark) Turner 06MN and her husband Tony on Jan. 27, 2009. Turner works at Gordon Hospital in Calhoun, GA.
MARRIED: Rebecca Wheeler 06N and Morgan NeSmith on June 6, 2009, in Big Canoe, GA. Wheeler also attended the International Council of Nursing 24th Quadrennial Congress in Durban, South Africa. She presented a poster there on the Kenya Health Workforce Project, an initiative of Emory’s Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing.
Carrie DeBoer 08MN/MPH and Shauna Mettee 09MN/MPH are among nine Emory graduates who joined the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service in July 2009.
Elizabeth (Beth) Tidmore Hausauer 08MN began her “dream job” last spring as an emergency preparedness specialist for the Georgia Department of Human Resources East Metro Atlanta health district. She and her husband TJ recently celebrated their second wedding anniversary.
Erika Steele 08MN was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant with the U.S. Air Force Nursing Corps in February 2009.
In Memory
1930s
Bernice Chapman Ray 37N of Dawson, GA, on May 10, 2009, at age 98.
Maude Walton Akerley 39N of San Clemente, CA, on Jan. 20, 2008. She was 91.
1940s
Jane Callaway Foster 44N of McDonough, GA, on Oct. 13, 2008, at age 86.
Carolyn Keith Eck 45N of Roanoke, VA, on Jan. 8, 2010, at age 86. After graduating from Emory, she worked as an RN with the VA Hospital in Salem, VA. Among other interests, she was a member of First United Methodist Church in Salem for more than 50 years.
Hilda Culbreth Alexander 46N 49G of Jacksonville, FL, on Dec. 12, 2008, at age 90. Her daughter, Annette Schultz, writes, “Hilda was the first person to receive the BS in nursing from Emory after the inauguration of the degree program in 1944. She had earned her Emory nursing certificate three years earlier.”
Frae H. Millman 46N of Newton County, GA, on Nov. 6, 2008, at age 94.
Luella (Lu) F. Selig 46N of Livermore, CA, on Feb. 7, 2009, from a respiratory illness. She was 84. After graduation, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was stationed at Oak Knoll Hospital in Alameda, CA, where she met J. Dean Selig, her late husband. After rearing six children, Selig resumed her nursing career in the newborn nursery at Washington Hospital in Fremont, where she worked for 30 years. She volunteered for numerous community services and in her later years knitted hundreds of hats for disadvantaged infants.
Beth Johnson Verdicchio 49N of St. James, NY, on June 13, 2009, at age 81. She was a native of Hendersonville, NC, and was a descendant of a Henderson County pioneer family.
1950s
Rosalind W. Harrison 51N 55MN of Lexington, SC, at age 80. Following Emory, she earned a second master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from Boston University. She helped pioneer the day treatment program for mentally ill patients in Montgomery County, MD. After retiring, she eventually moved to Lexington.
Joan Argoe Ayers 52N of Atlanta on July 19, 2009, following a stroke. Early in her career, she taught in the School of Nursing before moving to Texas.
Sara Schaller Emerson 52N of Yalaha, FL, on July 29, 2009, following a heart attack. She was 79.
Joan Benedict Worley 52N of Sandy Springs, GA, on Oct. 12, 2009, from complications of ALS. She was 77. A native of Florida, she served as head nurse on the urological floor at Emory University Hospital. An avid gardener, she was a life member of the Garden Club of Georgia and was honored as a member in 2009. She was past president of several organizations, including the Valley Forest Garden Club and the Riverside West Garden Club.
Rae J. Blevins 55N of Callaway, FL, on July 6, 2009, at age 76. She met her husband, Thomas E. Blevins, at Emory, and they married in 1955 in Raleigh, NC. They traveled the world for his Air Force career and raised four children. They retired to Callaway in 1980. She worked at the Panhandle Alcoholism Council for eight years and at Crossroads Rehabilitation Center for four years. In 1996, she became a hospice volunteer and was honored for comforting those in their last hours.
1960s
Elfa Edmister 63N of Jasper, TN, on June 26, 2008, at age 87. She was a retired nursing professor with Southern Adventist University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing.
Barbara Jean Duncan Kayes 67N of Richmond, VA, on July 12, 2009, after battling cancer. She had a long career in health care, first as a registered nurse and then as a nurse practitioner. She worked at several hospitals, including 16 years with St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond as a surgical clinical nurse. More recently, she worked in a bariatric surgery program at Commonwealth Surgeons Ltd.
Martha Ann (Marty) Bryant 69MN of Decatur, GA, on March 20, 2009, after a long struggle with COPD. Her nursing career spanned 40 years with Egleston Children’s Hospital, and later as a nursing instructor at DeKalb Community College. She retired from the DeKalb County Public Health Department as a visiting nurse, administering care to high-risk infants and children. Bryant wanted to be a pediatrician, but her family could not afford medical school. As a nurse, she advocated for school health, public health, and especially the patient. “She touched many lives, and if her patients couldn’t afford to get home, she gave them a ride or bus fare,” says her daughter, Hamby Bryant Groover.
1970s
Joann Neely Deibel 71MN of Atlanta on July 30, 2009. She was 71. Deibel taught at Duke University before moving to Atlanta, where she continued her career in the psychology department at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. She was a master gardener and member of the Red Hat Society. A world traveler, she had been to all seven continents.
Ann Grant Strong Anthony 74N of Tulsa, OK, on March 17, 2009. She was 56. As a young graduate, she joined the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. After a varied career as a nurse, wife, and mother, she moved to Tulsa in 2000 while working for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. In 2001, she left the corporate world and turned to teaching. She was hired as associate dean of nursing at Tulsa Community College (TCC). The college’s Nursing Division thrived under her leadership. Enrollment increased by 40%. Programs were implemented that made TCC the state’s top nursing program. At the time of her death, she was writing her dissertation.
Mary K. Hassell 77N of Virginia Beach, VA, on March 29, 2008. She was 81.
Cheryl (Cherie) Tennell Watson 79N of Decatur, GA, on Sept. 18, 2009, of complications from oral cancer. She was 52. Born in Ohio, Watson moved to Tucker, GA, at age 11. After graduating, she worked in gastroenterology at Emory University Hospital for more than 20 years. She attended Oak Grove United Methodist Church, where she was a scout leader for 20 years.
1980s
Karen Kenney Pharr 81N of Virginia Beach, VA, on April 10, 2009, of ovarian cancer. She was 58. Early in her career, she worked in the high-risk obstetrics unit at Grady Memorial Hospital. After moving to Virginia, she earned her master’s degree and eventually found her professional home at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, where she served as director of outreach education for many years.
Elaine Golasinski Pray 89N on Dec. 6, 2007.
Faculty Deaths
Gary W. Wallace, of Decatur, GA, on Aug. 8, 2009, at age 57. He died peacefully, but unexpectedly, while visiting friends in Camden, Maine. Wallace was a family nurse practitioner who worked with the poor and homeless throughout his career. A professor of nursing at Emory during the 1990s, he established a graduate program in psychiatric nursing and operated free clinics at O’Hern House, a residential facility for mentally ill people with nowhere else to turn, and Community of Friendship, a psychiatric rehabilitation center, both in Atlanta. He also volunteered at clinics for migrant farmworkers along the Atlantic Coast and at clinics in Mexico, Central America, and Jamaica. From his mountain home in North Carolina, Wallace ran retreats based in dream work for patients with mental illness and for caregivers. He is survived by five children and a grandson.
To read more about Wallace’s work with O’Hern House, visit whsc.emory.edu/_pubs/en/1998spring/heart.html.
